Note: This web site, “Stone Quarries and Beyond Continues,” is a continuation of the original/legacy web site, “Stone Quarries and Beyond,”g that was created over 20+ years ago by my late husband, Pat Perazzo. I can no longer add to or correct the original web site, although it will remain online as is. Future additions will be added to the new web site “Stone Quarries and Beyond Continues” and our Stone Quarries and Beyond Facebook page. Peggy B. Perazzo
Only the entry page for the Kansas state section is available at this time on the new web site. You will find the rest of the Kansas state page on the original web site Stone Quarries and Beyond using the links below.
Geology Resources – Kansas
- Kansas State Geological Survey
- Geology
- County Geologic Bulletins
- Other Publications
- County Maps
- Current Research in Earth Sciences, a peer-reviewed publication of the Kansas Geological Society. (an electronic Journal)
- Data Bases:
- General Publications – Geology (There are several publications available, but the following is of interest.)
- From Sea to Prairie – From Sea to Prairie: A Primer of Kansas Geology, written by Catherine S. Evans.
- GeoKansas
- KGS Educational Resources
- GeoKansas (Regional information about the geology and geography of Kansas.)
- KGS Geology Information Page
- KGS Online Bibliography of Geology
- Kansas Photo Display System (all Kansas counties)
- Geology
- “8 Ancient Rock Formations In Kansas That Will Utterly Fascinate You,” on Only In Your State.
- Chase County, Kansas – Economic Geology of Outcrops (and limestone quarries), presented by the Kansas Geological Survey.
- “Cottonwood Limestone” section of Wikipedia. (excerpt) “Cottonwood Limestone, or simply the Cottonwood,…is a stratigraphic unit and a historic stone resource in east-central Kansas, northeast-central Oklahoma, and southeastern Nebraska in the Midwestern United States…It is the lowest member of the Beattie Limestone formation and commonly outcrops within the deep valleys and on top of the scenic residual ridges of the Flint Hills.”
- Detailed Core and Log Analysis of a Producing Viola Dolomite Well in Comanche County, Kansas, by William Kitchell Hagood, Jr., Kansas State University, Kansas State Electronic Theses, Dissertations, and Reports, 2004.
- “Dolomite,” University of Kansas – Kansas Geological Survey. (“Dolomite is found mainly in central and southern Kansas. The Stone Corral Dolomite, in central Kansas, is up to six feet thick in Rice County. In the Red Hills, the Day Creek Dolomite is about two-and-a-half feet thick in Clark County….”)
- Elk County, Kansas – Mineral Resources of Elk County, by Robert Kulstad, Norman Plummer, Walter H. Schoewe, and Edwin D. Goebel, Kansas Geological Survey.
- Flint Hills Geology – Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, article by the National Park Service.
- The Flint Hills, Kansas – Geology, Geomorphology, and Geohydrology of The Flint Hills, East-Central Kansas, by James S. Aber, Earth Science Department Emporia State University. (The original link is no longer available, although the site can be viewed on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.)
- “Fort Scott Limestone – Higginsville ls, Kansas,” on mindat.org.
- From Sea to Prairie: A Primer of Kansas Geology, written by Catherine S. Evans, Kansas Geological Survey. There are several sections in this publication that are of particular interest to those interested in building stones. These are listed below, although there is a lot of other material is also covered in the publication on the web site.
- Generalized Physiographic Map of Kansas.
- GeoKansas – A Place to Learn About Kansas Geology – Physiographic Map of Kansas, presented by the Kansas Geological Survey.
- Explore the State, University of Kansas Geological Survey.
- GeoKansas, Kansas Geological Survey.
- Explore the State
- “Geologic History of Kansas,” YouTube video by Kansas Geological Survey, May 4, 2020.
- Geologic Story of the Great Plains, by D. E. Trimble. A nontechnical description of the origin and evolution of the landscape of the Great Plains, Geological Survey Bulletin 1493, United States Government Printing Office, Washington, 1980.
- “Geologic units in Kansas (state in United States,” U. S. Geological Survey.
- “Geological Oddities in Kansas,” on Atlas Obscura.
- Geology and Mineral Resources of Kansas, from the Eighth Biennial Report of the State Board of Agriculture, 1891-‘92, by Robert Hay, Robert Hay, 1893.
- Geology for Today – Kansas, Dr. Tambra L. Eifert.
- “Geology of Kansas,” section of Wikipedia.
- Geology of Kansas – Economic Geology – Lime and Hydraulic Cement – 1878, First Biennial Report of the State Board of Agriculture to the Legislature of the State of Kansas, for the Years 1877-8, presented on the KSGenWeb Project web site.
- Geology of South-Central Kansas Field Trip, Kansas Geological Survey, Open-file Report 2001-41, from GeoKansas, Kansas Geological Survey. The two types of limestones mentioned on this trip are the Fort Riley Limestone and the Silverdale Limestone. There are several Fort Riley Limestone quarries in the El Dorado area. Today this limestone is quarried for aggregate and rip-rap. The quarry near Junction City provided some of the stone for the state capitol building. Silverdale Limestone is quarried south of Fort Riley in Cowley County. This limestone was given its name from the fact that there are many quarries of this type of limestone near Silverdale.
- Geology of the Kansas City Vicinity – Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Space-Age Atlas, by James S. Aber, presented by the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Space-Age Atlas web site.
- Geology of Western Kansas Smoky Hill River Valley and Lake Scott State Park, Keystone Gallery.
- “The Heartland The Regions of Kansas,” Mickey Shannon, Fine Art Photography.
- “Ichnology of an Upper Carboniferous fluvio-estuarine paleovalley: The Tonganoxie Sandstone, Buildex Quarry, Eastern Kansas, USA,” published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 May 2016.
- Johnson Geology Museum, Earth Science Department, Division of Physical Sciences, Emporia State University.
- “Kansas: A buff to light-cream limestone is quarried near Silverdale, Cowley County. It is similar in texture and physical properties to Indiana limestone,” from Limestone and Dolomite by Oliver Bowles, Information Circular 7738, United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, 1995, pp. 4.
- Kansas – America’s Volcanic Past, presented by the United States Geological Survey. This link is available on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.)
- “Kansas Field Trips: Halite And Cone-In-Cone,” October 25, 2015, CSMS Geology Post.
- Kansas geologic map data, U. S. Geological Society. “A GIS database of geologic units and structural features in Kansas, with lithology, age, data structure, and format written and arranged just like the other states.”
- Kansas Geology and Archeology Tour
- “Kansas Limestone History,” Bluestem Quarry and Stoneworks.
- Kansas Map Collection, on Geology.com.
- “Kansas Minerals: East,” 2013, CSMS Geology Post.
- Kansas Physiographic Provinces. The Kansas landscape was formed by alternating periods of deposition and erosion. This landscape divides regions of Kansas according to physical geology, or physiography. Each region is different, and that difference is determined largely by geology, along with other factors such as climate.” U. S. Department of Agriculture.
- Kansas Rockhounding Location Guide & Map, Rockhound Resource.
- Kansas sandstone: Images of Kansas sandstone on Google images.
- Kansas State Minerals Information (USGS)
- Lincoln County – History of Limestone Fences in Lincoln County, Limestone fence posts near century in use. From the Lincoln Sentinel-Republican, November 26, 1981.
- List of YouTube videos about Kansas Geology.
- “Lithographic Trends,” Paleotectonic Investigations of the Pennsylvanian System in the United States,” Geological Survey Professional Paper 858, Chapters A through R, 1975. , pp. 146-a56.
- “Metamorphic rocks,” Kansas Geology.
- Monument Rocks – Chalk Formations (also known as the Smoky Pyramids – Just 26 miles south of Oakley)
- “Monument Rocks (Kansas)” in Gove County, Kansas,, section of Wikipedia.
- “Monument Rocks, Kansas – Pyramids of the Plains,” Legends of America.
- “Mushroom Rock State Park, Kansas,” Legends of Kansas.
- National Geologic Map Database, presented by the United States Geologic Survey.
- “Oldest Rocks in Kansas The Monument to the Ice Age – Blue Rapids, Kansas,” HMdb.org historical marker database.
- Physiographic Regions, Kansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas.
- Post Rock Country of North Central Kansas, presented by Washburn University (photographs)
- “Post Rock Cutting – Kansas Folk Art,” Kansapedia, Kansas Historical Society.
- “Riprap Erosion Protection What should you know about riprap on a dam?,” Kansas Department of Agriculture.
- Rock City, Minneapolis, Kansas. This web site is presented by Carol Yoho.
- “Rock City,” University of Kansas, Kansas Geological Survey.
- “Rock City: Sandstone Concretions in Kansas,” By Tim Sharp published September 14, 2016, Live Science.
- “Sandstone,” University of Kansas, Kansas Geological Survey.
- Topeka Gem and Mineral Society
- U. S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet on Kansas
Stone Carvers, Stone Cutters, etc., in Kansas
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- Isaac Alexander, quarry man and contractor, Chase County, Kansas. A biographical sketch from William G. Cutler’s History of the State of Kansas, Chase County, Part 3, first published in 1883 by A. T. Andreas, Chicago, IL, presented by Kansas Collection Books.
“(Isaac Alexander) has been a resident of Chase County ever since his return from the war, and started in the business of quarrying in 1873. The first quarry he opened was in the town site of Cottonwood Falls. Since then he has opened quarries east of the city, and has at present four quarries, furnishing a large quantity of stone for shipment, including the foundation for the main structure of the State Capitol at Topeka. He at present owns 302 acres in Chase County, a great portion of it being quarry land.One of the oldest settlers of the county, he has remained upon his original ground.”
- Charles Andera – “The Remarkable Crosses of Charles Andera,” by Loren N. Horton, in Markers XIV, Association for Gravestone Studies, 1997. (Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, USA)
- Guiseppe Vincenzo Bossi (also known as Joseph Bossi), Stonecutter, Cowley County, Kansas. (Transcription submitted by Dorothy Vanskike Faidley and Norma Heffner.) Cowley County Heritage Book, page 128. (The quotation below is used with the permission of the Bossi family.)
“Guiseppe Vincenzo Bossi, known to his East Bolton neighbors as Joseph Bossi, came to this region in 1872. Born Oct. 5, 1834, in Porta Ceresio, Italy, a small town near Lake Como on the Swiss border, he was orphaned by the death of both parents when he was about 12. His sisters were named Paulina (Pauline); Catrina (Catherine); and his brother was named Giovanni (John), all older than Joseph.
“John and Joseph were apprenticed to learn sculpture, marble, and stone cutting when quite young. Joseph was eleven. They became self-supporting from then on. John, the older brother, was so proficient that he was sent later to the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan when he gained recognition as a marble cutter and sculptor, and when recruiters were sent to Italy by the United States government to find and hire talented sculptors for the Capitol Building in Washington, John was one of 20 promising young Italians chosen for this work. For three years, John worked on the stone frieze in the senate retiring chamber, most of the time lying on his back upon a scaffold as he carved.
“Because of his brother’s success in America and also because of military conditions in Italy, Joseph decided likewise to seek his fortune in the new world. Docking at New York, he worked his way southward along the coast settling for a time in Savannah, Ga., where he opened a small confectionery store.he went to Maryland and joined the Union Army. He served the term of his voluntary enlistment, about three months, and then found employment in Washington, D. C., near his brother, John, both working as marble cutters and stonemasons at the Capitol Building during Abraham Lincoln’s administration. Upon completion of their work at the Capitol, the brothers turned westward. John established a monument business in Delavan, Wisconsin; Joseph opened a confectionery store in Chicago. Business flourished until Oct. 1871 when the famous Chicago fire destroyed Joseph’s store. Insurance companies were unable to pay their claims and Joseph, hearing of opportunities in Kansas decided to come here. En route to Kansas in 1872, he became friends with the Italian speaking family of the late A. A. Buzzi, a prominent stonemason who helped erect many of the cut stone buildings in Arkansas City. Buzzi invited Bossi to stay with their family in East Bolton until he could find a farm of his own.
“Joseph bought a farm adjoining the Buzzi farm. This farm has remained in the family ever since. Bossi married Ellen C. Brown, daughter of a neighbor Andrew Brown, and built for her a limestone masonry block house from his own quarry. The house is now occupied by a grandson, John V. Bossi.
“As a stonecutter, Joseph worked on many of the stone buildings in Arkansas City and helped with some of the early buildings at Chilocco….”
- Elmer Brazzle of Bayer Stone, Division of U.S. Stone – “A Craftsman that Time Has Remembered” (The following quotation is used with the permission of Bayer Stone.)
“‘You lose your purpose to live if you’re not doing something’. These are the words that 70 year old Elmer Brazzle lives by. A stonecutter for 47 years, Brazzle is the father of fourteen children and mentor to many at the Bayer Stone plant in St. Marys. Pride of hand craftsmanship has been his trademark from the very beginning. “It’s quality…Making sure a piece is correct, checking what he’s doing, and paying close attention to details’.
“Elmer Brazzle first began his career in Manhattan, KS in 1953. His journey took him to Denver, CO, Larimie, WY, and Topeka, KS before joining Bayer Stone in 1966. Brazzle learned a little more about his craft everywhere he went, working under Master Stone Cutters like Joe Butts. Although a quiet man, never seeking attention, in 1976 he could not be overlooked receiving the AIA Craftsman and Arts Award for excellence. Brazzle says ‘The environment at Bayer Stone is encouragement, allowing you creative freedom and working under Max (Bayer). He’s a good boss, but is also a good friend.’ Brazzle has since retired but his creative enthusiasm for stone cutting still inspires those at Bayer Stone today.”
- Gary D. Grossman, Sculptor, G. Grossman’s Fine Art – Visit Gary Grossman’s web site to view photographs of California soapstone, Colorado alabaster, Kansas Tuxedo limestone, Kansas Cottonwood limestone, Virginia steatite, Wisconsin sandstone, Nova Scotia blue anhydrite, and Brazilian soapstone.
- “Abe Hanson, Sculptor” (in Kansas City), in Stone: An Illustrated Magazine, Vol. V, No. III, August 1892, Vol. V, No. III, pp. 329-331. (This article is also available on Google Full View Books.)
- Marion “Lucky” Jeffords III – Denver, Colorado. “Local artist creates new altar for Christ the King Chapel – A year in the making, Kansas limestone altar and ambo works of art,” by Deacon John Neal, Denver Catholic Register, December 4, 2002. (The quote below is used with the permission of the “Denver Catholic Register.”) (The link from which the following information was obtained is no longer available, although you can read the article on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.)
<http://www.archden.org/dcr/archive/20021204/>After a year of working on the altar and lectern, Marion “Lucky” Jeffords III designed and installed these pieces for the Cathedral.
“The new altar and lectern are cut from Silverdale limestone quarried near Wichita, Kan.
“‘I prefer Kansas limestone because it has the more natural look of stone,’ Jeffords said. He said the most common limestone quarried in Indiana looks artificial, almost as though it was formed in a mold.
“‘It should look like stone,” he added.
“The new altar weighs in at 4,000 pounds, while the lectern tips the scales at about 1,000 pounds. The detailed carving on both is intricate and all done by hand.
“‘The only tools I have are my hands, some sandpaper, an air compressor and electricity,” Jeffords said. The electricity is for a router he uses for some of the more difficult angles and cuts.
“When the limestone for the altar showed up at his shop, it was a rectangular block about 12 inches thick, 8 feet long and 4 feet wide. Today it is a work of art. Its carving, cutting and sanding is sure to be the equal of any altar in the state, if not superior.
“Jeffords is a bear of a man with hands the size of frying pans and shoulders as wide as the garage door of his countryside shop located in the gently sloping hills south of Littleton. With his ponytail, mustache and powerful stature, your first impression might be that he has a Harley stashed somewhere behind his shop. After all, moving stone around that can weigh hundreds to thousands of pounds is no job for the weak. But his outward appearance belies a disposition that seems as gentle as a lamb.
“As a second-generation stonecutter, Jeffords started his career in South Carolina, where he made headstones and monuments for graves. His father, at 72 years old, is still active in the business. After moving to Colorado about 22 years ago, the younger Jeffords decided that the “monument” business was no longer satisfying. Gravestones were beginning to be built by large monument companies in a mass-production atmosphere, not the place for an artist who likes to work slowly and skillfully.
“There is no doubt that Jeffords is an artist. While he is quiet about his work, it can be seen in some of the most expensive homes in Denver.
“‘I spent about five years at one house in Cherry Hills,” Jeffords said. “In 1990, architect David Tryba came to me and asked me to build an altar, ambo and tabernacle for the chapel at Regis High School. That was my first experience with church architecture.
“Since that time, Jeffords has done work at St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Denver and is currently working on a project for the new Our Lady of Loreto Church in southeast Aurora.”
- Inez Marshall – A self-taught artist who started carving Kansas Limestone in the late 1930s and continued for 51 years. Some of her work is on display at the Marshall Gallery of the Grassroots Art Center in Lucas, Kansas.
- Inez Marshall, Continental Sculpture Hall, on Spaces.
- Inez Marshall – Sculptor Facebook page. (description) “This is the fanpage for Inez Marshall Sculptor and the Pete Felten – Sculptor Collection of Inez Marshall’s work.”
- Myles’ Studio” Stone Carving Workshop (excerpt) “Around the first weekends in May and October, we have a three-day stone carving workshop in Lawrence, Kansas. It takes place at Myles’ studio.”
- Sculptor Paul Ponchillia’s Arctic Stone Carving in Lawrence, Kansas – Facebook page.
- Pearl Sams, Marble Cutter, Great Bend, Kansas. The following article is from “Some Women Marble Cutters,” in The Monumental News Magazine, the date of the original publication is unknown, although it was published some years after 1885, pp. 120 (?). This article was included as one of the past articles of the magazine in the December, 1939 issue of The Monumental News Magazine. (Scroll down to Pearl Sams’ section of the article below.)
Some Women Marble Cutters
“When Tennyson wrote, ‘Man for the field, and woman for the hearth; man for the sword and for the needle she,’ he could not have foreseen how soon this statement would need revision. Man has well nigh deserted the sword; woman’s needle is now driven by machinery, and in her search for new fields of action, she has invaded many trades and professions that were formerly regarded as the sole prerogative of man. Women in mercantile establishments and business offices no longer excite comment. Chicago has some women bank tellers, and every one of the professions has its women representatives, and the census strenuously announces that there are some women blacksmiths.
“‘Monumental News’ has recently been trying to discover how many women are identified with the arts and crafts tributary to the marble and granite industries, and while the returns have not been by any means complete, we present on this page some evidence of the fact that woman is deserting the needle and taking up the chisel. It is well-known that there are a number of women sculptors who have achieved national prominence in their art, and one of whom is a member of the National Sculpture Society. Consequently our efforts were directed toward discovering some women marble cutters and carvers, and we have thus far succeeded in finding only three. This leads us to believe that the women connected with the trade are either scarce, or are of a more retiring disposition than their sisters in other walks of life, and we urge the timid ones to send along their photographs at once.
“The young ladies introduced on this page are all experienced and reliable in the work of ornamental carving, lettering, and tracing, and express themselves as well satisfied with their work.
“Miss Lucy J. Daniel, of Executor, Mo., was born in Carter county, Ky.; and learned the marble business with her father, who was in business in Charleston, Ark., and at Springdale, Ark., before moving to Exeter, Mo. she has had a long experience in the trade, having taken full charge of the shop in 1885, when she also began lettering. She does all of the lettering and some of the cutting and rubbing, and reports a good and growing business. She has recently been investigating homestead claims in western Kansas, and contemplates retiring from business and moving out there.
“Miss Alice E. Rigg is a Canadian girl, and acquired her first experience in the shop of her father, Geo. Rigg, at Windsor, Ontario. She cut her first inscription seven years ago, and has since become a valued assistant in her father’s business, and it is sufficient testimony to her skill to say that customers continue to be pleased with her work. She does not do stone cutting or the heavier work of the shop, but is an adept at carving, tracing, lettering and all ornamental work on granite and marble. Miss Rigg does much of her carving from original designs of her own, and become so skilled in this line that her drawings for carved work are in demand by out of town workers, and she is reputed to be the most skillful marble carver in Windsor, where her work is in great demand. Our illustration shows an excellent likeness of her in working costume.
“Miss Pearl Sams, of Great Bend, Kansas, also learned to handle the mallet and chisel under the instruction of her father, W. J. Sams who is a veteran monument man of thirty years’ experience. She writes that she began at the age of seventeen, and has been at the trade over seven years, thereby revealing what is commonly supposed to be one of the secrets of the sex. She received a thorough training in the craft, beginning with frosting, lettering footstones and small slabs and proceeded gradually to the better class of work. For the past three years she has been doing the best of lettering and tracing, and can cut an inscription as quickly and as thoroughly as the average man in the trade. She does not do heavy cutting or polishing, but considers herself master of the other branches of marble cutting. She says: ‘I love my trade and expect to follow it as long as my name is Miss Pearl Sams.’
“There are a number of women who are successfully managing businesses formerly conducted by their husbands, but very few of them do the actual work of cutting.”
Photo captions: (1) Miss L. J. Daniel; (2) Miss Alice E. Rigg; and (3) Miss Pearl Sams.
- Arthur Sayler “The Stone Post Craftsman” – “In Memory of a Member,” taken from the Tiller & Toiler, Larned, Kansas, July 25, 1989, by Carl Immenschuh, on the Santa Fe Trail Research Site of Larry & Carolyn Mix.
- Another Story About “Arthur Sayler,” on the Santa Fe Trail Research web site.
- Annie J. Scott, Kansas City (Kansas City Library Special Collections) The information below was taken from a previous abstract from the book entitled, Kansas City Women of Independent Minds – The biography of Annie Jezak Scott is no longer available at the original link, although you can read the article on the Internet Archive.
<http://www.kclibrary.org/localhistory/media.cfm?mediaID=34905>“Portrait and Biography of Annie Jr. Scott,” by Annie Ridenbaugh Bird, 1992, pp. 137-139, which is located in the Missouri Valley Special Collections. (Abstract on the web site: “Portrait and bio of Annie Scott, ‘a teacher, missionary, author, doctor, real estate speculator, architect, builder, and contractor” growing up in Lafayette County, Missouri and coming to Kansas City in the 1890s. Real estate developer of land between 43rd and 45th Streets on State Line Road.’”
- Isaac Alexander, quarry man and contractor, Chase County, Kansas. A biographical sketch from William G. Cutler’s History of the State of Kansas, Chase County, Part 3, first published in 1883 by A. T. Andreas, Chicago, IL, presented by Kansas Collection Books.
Annie J. Scott was a missionary, doctor, real estate developer, and ran her own stone quarry.
- Vonada Stone Company in Sylvan Grove, Iowa: Tours upon request at the Vonada Stone Company in Sylvan Grove, Iowa. (excerpt) “The Vonada’s accommodate tour groups who wish to see how the stone is quarried out using the tools of a hundred years ago. Tours are given to customers or those with a great interest in seeing the shop where the stone carving is done and how the old vertical mill turns out bird baths and more. Visitors come to the shop to see the artwork that is engraved on the stone….”